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suprdude22
Oct 24, 2005, 5:51 AM
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Hey I have a situation, a quandry if you will....
So the folks at my gym (forgive me for mostly gym climbing, there arent many rocks in FL) have been talking about "contact strength." Im a little confused with this and it doesn't really make much sense to me.
Apparently, what they are calling contact strength is the ability to hold on to ridiculously smooth holds. My problem is that I seem to be substantially weaker than most of the other climbers on these types of holds, but climb as well or better on other types. I thought it was just slopers, but I seem to climb well on slopers with texture, it seems to be just the lack of texture that gets me.
I ask this question mostly because we have a lot of smooth holds at our gym, and I seem to be able to do all the moves of routes except for the ones off of the smooth holds. The guys keep saying you need to work contact strength, but all they say is climb on the smooth stuff more which just frustrates me more. If anyone has any ideas on this, or any ways to train for these types of thing, I would really appreciate it.
Thanks in advance.
Mike
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overlord
Oct 24, 2005, 6:06 AM
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if you can hold slopers with texture but not the smooth ones, chances are the problem is your technique.
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t-dog
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Oct 24, 2005, 6:15 AM
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Ohhhh, *SNAP*
but seriously, if you can hold onto/use the holds that have texture and not the ones that don't, then it most likely means that you are mostly using the friction from the texture to hold on, as opposed ot finger strength. This is all good as long as hold have texture (which is mostly the case outdoors), but when things get smooth and you have to squeeze the crap out of them, you come up short.
Also, holds with texture allow for a much greater margin of error/angles of use than those without texture.
And ultimately, training on holds without texture will get you stronger for when you use holds that do have said texture.
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andy_reagan
Oct 24, 2005, 12:02 PM
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Traditionally in the climbing literati "contact strength" has been referred to as the amount of time it takes you to latch and maintain contact to holds. This comes into play when you deadpoint or do any other sort of dynamic movement.
Colloquially "contact strength" has been referred to as the ability to hold on to certain holds (usually slopers for some odd reason).
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suprdude22
Oct 24, 2005, 1:51 PM
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do you guys have any tips on sloper technique? or, tips on sloper strength? (other than climb on them a lot). do you try and keep your fingertips together or spread them apart?
Grip trainers make sense, but not totally. It just seems like they would focus more on crimp pressure (based on the shape your hand is in when you use them). When I have tried to work on large slopers it seems like the place that gets the workout is about an inch or two below my wrist. This never seems to feel anything when I use a grip "enhancer", if you will. what do ya think?
Thanks.
Mike
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tomma
Oct 24, 2005, 1:59 PM
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yes, andy_reagan is right, the dynamic context is important for this term: you dyno to a small hold, like on a campus, and need to 'maintain contact' and withstand the initial kinetic load it has nothing to do with hanging on longer or moving to the next position..
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wyomingclimber
Oct 24, 2005, 5:05 PM
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There is probably no way to improve this without just doing it a lot. The hand strengtheners probably aren't going to get you very far.
The best way to get better (assuming you're a fairly experienced climber):
Set a 12 move boulder problem (ie 6 smooth slopers for each hand.) Make it hard enough that it's a tough flash when you don't use the most obvious footholds. Now climb it 5x with rests of 3 minutes between attempts. The goal is to make it to the top, so when you start to lose it, use the more bomber footholds. If it gets too easy, use worse footholds. Do this 2x per week for 7-8 weeks, slowly increasing the number of sets to 8.
Keep an eye on your elbows during this process. If they start to hurt, back off.
Good luck...
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keinangst
Oct 24, 2005, 5:11 PM
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Since you're in gainesville, just take a spring break trip to HP40, about 7 hours north. Spend a week there and you'll learn everything you need to know about slopers. Then take those ideas back to the gym and...oh, wait a sec. If you visit HP40, you won't ever want to go back to the gym. Never mind ;)
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suprdude22
Oct 25, 2005, 4:06 AM
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keinangst,
thats funny you mention HP, that's why I want to work on slopers/contact strength. besides that, Im going to be up there next weekend for the triple crown.
Lata.
Mike
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squierbypetzl
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Oct 25, 2005, 4:20 AM
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Use as much skin as possible. If it´s a really big sloper (think basketball) then you´d even use your forearm a bit.
Fingers together or apart? Depends on the hold. Try both and see what works where.
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climbingaggie03
Oct 25, 2005, 6:26 AM
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I hate to kick a dead horse, but the key is to keep doing it and listen to the technique suggestions. For a long time I wouldn't even try slopers, cause i'm a bigger guy (190lbs) and thought you had to be skinny to have a shot with slopers, but once I tried them for a while I got to where I could usually hang onto them, keep trying you'll get it.
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forjoke
Oct 31, 2005, 2:26 PM
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andy_reagan is right. when deadpoint or dyno, you have to catch the hold at the first moment you touch it, or else you fall. It is a different story to do statically. Campus board is good to train contact strength.
As for slopers, I have watched a video by Stephen Jeffery, he explained well. Try to touch all holds with open hand in training. Pay attention to the direction of hand on the hold, keep center of body blow the slopper as possible as you can.
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rodion
Oct 31, 2005, 3:21 PM
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The 12 move problem idea sounds good. On a less training/ more climbing way of doing it, I had a lot of luck (and confidence building) when I first confronted slopers by picking out the good open handed things I could hold on to a little, and then setting a normal length, slightly overhanging problem with them. Make it a cool problem, cause you might be on it for a while. Preferably, make it one on which you can, or can almost, hold onto every individual move (with whatever feet you've chosen), but can't pull any of the moves. (Often, it is easier to hang on a sloper than to move past it.) Then enjoy the new project. You don't want it to be something you will get after 5 tries, but it should also be doable within 5 good nights of work on it. Getting that first sloper problem (set to your style) on holds that you used to see as impossible will really up your confidence with what you can do, or can do with a week of work.
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tobym
Nov 1, 2005, 8:28 AM
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In reply to: As for slopers, I have watched a video by Stephen Jeffery, he explained well. Try to touch all holds with open hand in training. Pay attention to the direction of hand on the hold, keep center of body blow the slopper as possible as you can.
Here it is:http://blanchas.myftpsite.net/...limbing/Vids/pt8.mov
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daithi
Nov 1, 2005, 11:06 AM
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In reply to: Use as much skin as possible. If it´s a really big sloper (think basketball) then you´d even use your forearm a bit.
Although it seems a bit counterintuitive, the friction force doesn't depend on surface area. Theoretically it shouldn't matter whether you used your fingertip or took your clothes off and lay down on the thing! The only thing that determines the friction is the normal force (the amount of pressure you put down on the sloper!)
Of course this is fine for a text book! I have to say when I try and hang off a sloper, I get as much skin on there as possible! :)
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